ABOUT NPBVA

The National Pit Bull Victim Awareness campaign brings awareness and attention to the injuries and deaths caused by pit bull-type dogs in the United States and Canada.

The Victim Awareness campaign derives its name from the National Pit Bull Awareness Month, when pit bull enthusiasts seek to promote pit bull-type dogs as safe pets for families and communities. Instead, we ask you to consider the thousands of victims of pit bulls and the enormous financial consequences to communities.

In the not quite nine years since “Pit Bull Awareness Day” debuted, 2,793 pit bulls and close pit mixes have attacked 1,067 children and 1,189 adults in incidents in which 208 people were killed and 1,891 people were disfigured.Merritt Clifton, October 3, 2015

To anyone who has been a victim of a pit bull attack, the need for a national day of awareness for these dogs is clear. Pit bulls are in the media spotlight for good reason. Hundreds of people, many of them children, are attacked, injured, bitten, or killed by pit bulls in North America every week.

“For 32 consecutive years, pit bulls have accounted for half or more of the fatal and disfiguring dog attacks in each and every year. Never has any other breed category accounted for even half as many.”Merritt Clifton, Editor, Animals 24/7

In addition to attacks on people, pit bulls killed more than 14,250 dogs in the U.S. in 2013-2014. They were responsible for 61% of the fatal dog attacks on cats in 2013-2014. The attacks leave behind grieving owners, many of whom are injured during the attacks and suffer PTSD for years to come. Pit bulls attack thousands of horses and farm animals every single year, incurring huge losses of income.

National Pit Bull Victim Awareness Day, the 4th Saturday in October, is a day to educate the public and to warn the public of the danger of pit bulls in the communities in which we and our dogs live. It is an opportunity to speak on behalf of pit bull victims, both human and animal. It is an opportunity to introduce the truth about the dogs commonly known as “pit bulls” and to advocate for breed-specific legislation (BSL).

Please see our Partners and Friends page and link to their sites for extensive information about the crisis.

I’ll tell you what is unfair: being attacked by a pit bull and spending months or years recuperating. The scars and lost limbs, the mental trauma, the loss of someone who succumbs to death after an attack …while the dog is quarantined for 12 days and returned to the owners who perhaps, may pay a $500 dollar fine. Unfair are pit-and-runs and repeat offenders. The many other animals mauled and killed, the fact that people feel unsafe walking outside. That my dear is "unfair".

They want thier dogs they should be held fully liable for every death and disfigurement… they should be charged with the deaths maulings and lifetime medical care of the victims … your pitt … the dog breed bred for fighting to the death in dog fights…. not a pet… kills someone the pitt owner should be charged with murder… because they KNOW the dog is deadly… innocent people and pets should not have to be mauled to death and disfigured, because the dog got out, they didn’t have a muzzle… all Pitts should have to wear muzzles by law in public… would save the lives of people and pets… if they actually cared about the breed and not show boating and virtue signaling there would be a breeding ban on this dog given they populate most every shelter across the nation 50+%… but it’s about human ego and irresponsibility, not about saving pitt bulls, this is about the look at me I have a pitt bull and now I’m cool and I’m dangerous ego bullshit… you can’t even consider this a protection dog because you have to shoot it to death to get it to stop attacking… too unpredictable for a protection dog… not a pet… it’s a danger to anyone who has to live near the dog… most people can’t physically handle the dog, don’t know what a break stick is, can’t even get the dog to heel on a leash…. I was walking the trails and here comes this guy being dragged down the trail the pitt 15 feet in front… NO CONTROL over its head… another dog or person comes around the corner and the pitt owner couldn’t stop the dog from mauling anyone … the cult of irresponsibility

OKLAHOMAUpdate: The District Attorney has requested a judge be disqualified in the trial of the owner of the pit bulls that fatally mauled Cecile Short in 2017 in Oklahoma City due to allegedly showing bias toward the defense attorney and because she had to pay veterinary costs when her dog attacked another.

"Coleman ruled against showing any photographs of the victim’s injuries at trial. She banned the jury from seeing any police body camera footage and a firefighter helmet video of the dogs circling the victim’s body."

because WAY too many of us have to pay vet bills because other folks need big mean pit bulls and other dangerous dogs to make them feel big and those dogs are dangerous. THIS WOMAN WAS KILLED!!! MURDERED by a dog that should NEVER be owned by irresponsible people and most others

OHIOUpdate: The 14 vote margin upholding the pit bull ban in Parma is generating a recount on May 29.

"By percentage, the margin of victory is just .12%, which means the race isn’t over quite yet. Under state law, all local elections with a margin of victory of .5% or less must undergo an automatic recount. Ohio Revised Code 3515.04 states such recounts will be conducted by hand at the board of elections in front of all who wish to observe. Cuyahoga County has set the recount for this coming Wednesday, May 29."

FLORIDAThey’re trying to come up with excuses as to why the pit bull killed Christine Liquori at the Humane Society shelter. Perhaps, one day, people will realize they should not shelter pit bulls due to their genetic impulses.

Kathy Norris, a former volunteer coordinator, said in 2016 she and another woman were walking two dogs — one of them a pit bull — when the animals began to fight; the pit bull grabbed the smaller dog by the neck.

"I’m screaming for help, calling three different numbers for administrators, nobody picked up the phone, nobody was there," said Norris. "No management on duty.

"And now we have a dead woman," she said, referring to Liquori, "and it’s similar to what happened with me. It’s the same situation, nothing has changed."

They are spinning this in to a fundraiser aren’t they. "If we had just had more money for better facilities (and higher executive salaries) she would still be alive." No, if they did not insist on warehousing violent dogs no one wants, if they weren’t believers in live release rate über alles, and if they weren’t pushing the myth that "pits are just like other dogs" she would still be alive.

The national humane societies share very little with local chapters. It would be interesting to see what the legal expenses are for their aggressive reaction to any BSL or euthanization. Of course Best Friends employees were dispatched to advise this shelter what thir solutions should be. Likely not naming breeds when trying to adopt. If everyone had 3 or 4 bully dogs the world would be perfect.

What is needed: euthanize pit and pit mix/pit-type dogs.

What might result: more room in shelters for normal/safer adoptable dogs, more food to go round, and fewer incidents both inside the shelters and in our neighborhoods.

This story breaks my heart. This woman was faced with so many challenges in her life and she was turning it all around. She did not deserve to die like this. God bless her and my prayers are with her family. So much tragedy.

Unless and until Genetics is realized, the death toll from Pits and their mixes will continue. Dogs are not people and you cannot change 200+ years of breeding out of an animal with training. It is the exact reason that people are not allowed to own Lions and Tigers…

No Kill is not a good option. Large part of why there is such overcrowding because of dogs which are not adoptable (putting the public at risk) and should be put down. Guess what kind of dogs!

There is probably a limit to the amount of money most people would want to spend on continuing to warehouse growing numbers of vicious dogs. Reasonable people will put the needs of their own families first. The solution should be obvious. Reduce the number of dogs being sheltered. No-kill is a failure, made even worse by pit bull advocates who encourage a pit bull population explosion that they think other people should pay for.

It wasn’t due to funds, it is the Nanny Dog myth realized. So long as pro pits continue to disregard science and No-kill shelters exist, and are backed by the Best friends initiatives (money making off of the weaker minded) there will be maulings/deaths.

The tsunami of pits is causing these problems nationwide. Spay/neuter had become pretty well established and the numbers of dogs at shelters was stable or dropping. This remains the case for non-bully type dogs. A look at the population at almost any randomly selected shelter would support this. Perhaps the financial problem for governments will finally prompt a rational focus on the preventable disaster that sadly deaths and maulings has not.

“The cult of irresponsibility “

Hopefully SOMEDAY they will realize that Pits do theses things because, ITS IN THEIR GENES AND SHOWING THEM LOVE WILL NEVER CHANGE THAT !

When information and education don’t deter people from exposing their families to dangerous dogs, maybe legal liability will help get the message across.

I live in the Raleigh area and I am pleasantly surprised by the comments section on the newspaper website! There are some sane people commenting that agree with those of us in this group. I’m so used to seeing the PB nutters out in full force on those types of stories. Glad to hear there are charges pending!

One thing you won’t hear from #pitbull advocates: ideas on how to keep people safe from Pits attacks.

Why are charges pending against the cousin? Did he/she breed it? Design it? Sell/adopt it? Promote/advocate for ownership of Pitbulls? Do those that do so not have an ounce of culpability?

C’mon now, if this owner of one Pitbull is guilty, how much more guilt do organizations that promote ownership and even go so far as to fabricate the history of individual pits and the breed/type as a whole? We all know they do have MUCH responsibility for all this mayhem.

People will say it’s because of the way pit bulls are raised and that might contribute to they’re dangerous streak. However, the breed is the breed and aggression is built into them naturally, in my opinion.